1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a protective guard particularly intended for soccer players in which the participant wears the protective guard below the wearer's knees to protect from injury.
2. Background Information
In sports such as soccer, where much of the physical impact takes place below the participant's knees, it is desirable to protect a player's shins, calves, ankles and Achilles tendon from possible impacts.
With the growing number of adults and children participating in athletic contests such as soccer, it has become increasingly significant that injuries be prevented and/or at least minimized as possible. Soccer players are frequently struck along the shin and calf areas of their legs during play. Plastic or metal shin guards have been in use for many years to specifically protect the player's shins, ankles and Achilles tendon area during the athletic contest. It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,370 to provide a shin pad with ankle bone and Achilles tendon protection. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,669,126 and 5,581,817 each provide an athletic sock which incorporates a pad to protect the wearer's shin area. U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,055 is directed to a shin and knee guard.
The inventor is unaware of prior art that provides a protective guard which will protect the wearer's shin, ankle and Achilles tendon areas, and the calf area, while being both easy to use and relatively inexpensive to fabricate.
As will be seen from the subsequent description, the preferred embodiments of the present invention overcome the current limitations of the prior art.